I'll Love You Till The Day I Die
by Korean Pearl
Summary: An immortal Biolex and a mortal human fall in love with each other, even while knowing that they can never stay together.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll Love You Till The Day I Die**

"_Prince Jake…"_

"_Don't call me prince," he mumbled, as his eyes flew open, and I knew that Jake was back._

_I helped him up, and together we walked out of the woods, circled the perimeter to avoid meeting people, and then went to the lake to wash him up, when suddenly my vision swam and I fell to my knees as shimmering rainbows danced in the sky above me. What was going on?_

"_You okay?" Jake asked me, and I nodded, getting up, the rainbows disappearing._

"_Just dizzy," I answered._

"_I was the one who you beat up," he joked, and I smiled back at him._

_I knew that maybe even tomorrow his indifference might return, but at least for this moment, my prince was back._

_- Excerpt from The Summons, Princess Maya_

"She's a beautiful ship," Alexa remarked, her fingers just touching the sleek black metal, and then thought of how Keav would have loved to fly it. She glanced up at Jeremy's familiar face, and was just able to see the effect that her words had on him – a brighter face, eyes just a little more content. Only a Nadar like Jeremy would be able to keep from showing any more emotion, she thought. Only a soldier in the Princess' army would have that kind of control.

I can do it too, she said silently, still gently tracing the ship's smoothness. Not because I am a Nadar, but because I am a Biolex. Because I was built and made by the last living Arn to be indestructible so that I could serve those citizens of this planet Somolonania, both Nadar and Kyan, warrior and civilian. He endowed me with control, speed, strength, eternal youth, eternal life; and yet the only gift that I can find myself grateful to him for are my great white wings that lift me out and away from the world I was created to serve…

"Alexa?"

Her name, spoken as quietly as a whisper, shattered her thoughts and she turned to the man who had been her constant companion since the end of the One's War. Shaking the hair out of her eyes, she smiled, and then apologized lightly. "Sorry, I was thinking about something."

Jeremy nodded in response, and the two slipped into an easy silence as they looked out over Ship City, as they called the giant floating city where ships were docked. Jeremy pointed silently out to the horizon, and Alexa could just make out the building of a second floating city, Rachelarem, named after the dead Animorph who gave her life, and in doing so, freed Maya to become the Princess.

"I can't believe they're planning on moving the entire city from the ground to the sky," Jeremy said, his British accent still strong even after all these years. Alexa smiled a little and then added, "And they're also going to make it so that the city is green and as much like the ground as possible. They just don't want to pollute the environment like all of our ancestors did to their planets."

"Put the people in the sky and all the factories in orbit and let the planet become a garden," Jeremy murmured in response, and then he turned and reached for Alexa's hand. "And now, you'll tell me why you're so quiet today, and what's bothering you."

"You know what day it is today?" she asked him lightly, after a moment's pause, her body's tenseness undetectable in her voice. Of course Jeremy would know. He had loved her… or had he?

"Keav died a year ago today," Jeremy responded, his voice also light. Alexa nodded, her mind flashing back to the day Keav had given her life in a kamikaze attack against the One. Glancing at Jeremy, she paused for a moment and then realized once more that through her skill she could still tell when someone was lying, when someone was uncomfortable, when someone was in pain…

"Did you love her?"

Alexa's eyes were downcast, her finger touching the side of the dustless ship, tracing the gleaming lines. She caught the barest breath that Jeremy let out, and then she looked up to see him gazing at her.

"There is only one person I have ever loved in that way," he started simply. "And she died meaninglessly." He hesitated, and then continued more quietly. "But that was fourteen years ago and I've learned since then that love is something learned, not caught or fallen into."

Alexa hesitated to respond, not wanting to talk about love, and then said, "Jeremy, let's go for a ride. Let's go, up into the sky, up into orbit. Let's fly – she would have liked that."

Jeremy gave a short, gruff laugh. "Liked it? She would have killed us if we had passed up a chance to. First though…"

Alexa waited, expectant.

"I'm thirsty."

The Biolex laughed, and then said, "Well, there's a place we can go to in Rachelarem right across from where we live; let's go get a drink, and then fly."

--

Picture this. A man, around thirty years of age, too thin to be considered manly, but surrounded by the haunted air of one who has seen and done too much. By his side: a perpetual seventeen-year-old girl, in reality always four years older than her companion. Both of their gazes sharp, the former's always wary and the latter's already weary.

--

"I'll be dropping by my room first, yeah?" Jeremy told Alexa before disappearing with a smile up the shaft into the apartment complex that all members of the Princess' War Council lived in. Finishing up her drink, Alexa shook her head and stepped into the shaft after him, and then thought about the one time she had spent the night over at Jeremy's place, not wanting to go to her apartment at the very top, and how the gossip that had bloomed from that single event had taken nearly a week to calm down.

Never mind that being a Biolex meant that her clothes were actually (standard Western Earthling clothing, perpetual jeans and t-shirt that seventeen-year-olds always seemed to wear) part of her DNA, unable to be removed. The people were bored, she knew, and wanted something to talk about.

And that was also back when the compound was small, and everyone knew everyone, and the age gap between Alexa and Jeremy at that time had been six years, not fifteen.

--

"You've got to be kidding me," Jeremy stated flatly, after turning off the communicator. He turned to Alexa who simply shrugged. Rolling his eyes at her indifference, he continued in the same strain. "I mean, don't we have a rescue team or something? To deal with situations like this? I feel like whenever anyone needs any rescuing they always run to you and me, no matter what we might be doing. No joyride for us."

"This is my job, Jeremy, and ever since we started spending most of our time together they decided to assign us together."

"Well, it's not like we're going to live forever," Jeremy answered carelessly, the words falling out of his mouth before he could close it. Cursing himself for his insensitivity, he plowed on, hoping to cover the moment with his trademark sarcasm. "Oh, Jeremyalexa, Alexajeremy, please please help us even though we've been at peace with everyone for a solid year now pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"What's a cherry?"

"Don't tell me that your Arn didn't tell you what a cherry was."

Alexa shrugged in response.

"Cherry: the fruit of any of various trees belonging to the genus Prunus, of the rose family, consisting of a pulpy, globular drupe enclosing a one-seeded smooth stone," Jeremy rolled off, quoting from memory. He had never thought he would ever have to actually recite these definitions that had been burned into his memory – grammar school, copying the dictionary for talking in class – but hey, it shows that you never know what's going to be useful in the future.

"What I want to know," Alexa started slowly, "Is why the gravity in your ship is so not 9.8 meters per second squared?"

Jeremy looked at her. What did that have to do with cherries? Crazy girl. Woman. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that it feels like I'm about to float, and when I jump -" here she demonstrated a small jump "– I go way higher into the air than I should."

"First of all, _gravity_ isn't 9.8 meters per second squared. The _acceleration_ _due _to gravity is 9.8 meters per second squared."

"Spare me the science lecture, Jeremy. You know what I meant. And don't tell me that you set your ship this way just because you like it this way."

"I like it this way."

"You're so obnoxious."

"That's why you love me."

Jeremy flashed a dashing grin, if he said so himself, and when Alexa rolled her eyes at him, he knew that she was back from the past, or at least back from playing over the memory of Keav's death over and over again. Alexa had been in the ship that Keav had flown into the One's Blade Ship, and it had to kill her that Keav had died while Alexa had lived only because Alexa was a Biolex.

Stop, he ordered himself. I don't want to dwell on it either. We're here now, not even in space yet, just in Somolonania's atmospheric regions, to a location already programmed into my ship, in order to rescue a Nadar who was in a training session for flying those bullet ships that the Nadar love so much.

A console beeped and Jeremy casually bounced to it, and then pressed it. A small hologram appeared in the air between the two and Jeremy looked at it curiously.

"What the hell _is_ that?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. A tornado, a twister, a hurricane – but unmoving, staying in the same spot – and _rainbow _colored?

"It's the Time Twister," Alexa responded, leaning forward, her fingers reaching out to touch the holographic particles. "The Somolonanian natives talked about it. You know how every tribe has an Old Mother, and when the Old Mothers gather together once a year one of them receives visions of the future?"

"So I've heard, yeah."

"The visions are apparently collected, or at least solidified, in the Time Twister. I remember speaking to one of the Old Mothers, and her telling me about a 'twister of time, it gives us our memories of the future.' This must be it!"

"And our Nadar is trapped in _there?_"

Alexa finally stopped being interested in the Time Twister long enough to pay attention to his words. "Oh. That's a problem."

"_Reaaaly_, now. And I thought we could just tromp in there and order the twister to stop twisting long enough to get in and out and home in time for a cup of tea."

"No, but with your ship we should be able to at least get in there, and out with just a little bit more difficulty."

Jeremy wasn't sure whether the fact that Alexa never reacted to his sarcasm was the best thing about her or the most annoying thing about her. Sighing, he turned to the control panel and began flipping switches, trying to gather information about the density of the air up ahead, and how much manual control he should be maintaining. After a few minutes of preliminary research, he looked up at his partner.

"Ready?"

She nodded, and then her eyes gleamed the way they always did right before the two of them went to try anything dangerous, anything involving risk. Jeremy couldn't help but smile in response, and thought, this is why I spend so much time with her, before shooting the both of them forwards, instantly accelerating to gain enough speed to break through whipping winds that made up the boundary of the rainbow hurricane they were trying to enter.

Getting in was easier than he expected, and as he predicted, there was an eye for them to rest in as well. An eye, and then the winds swirled in colors around them.

"It'll be a lot harder to get out," Alexa said quietly, and then pointed at the information screen on her right. Jeremy glanced at it, and then bit his lip before replying, "It'll take a lot of maneuvering, yeah, but I think if we keep the same amount of weight as we have now, we'll be able to ride the winds out of here."

He watched as Alexa turned to the communicator, trying to reach the Nadar they were here to rescue, but when there was no response, she turned to him and said, "We have to go out there. I had the computer measure the wind speeds of this twister and build a simulation of it while you were flying us in, and basically, anyone who doesn't make it to the eye is pushed by the winds to the furthest edge of the twister, and is trapped there."

"So that's where our lucky Nadar is," Jeremy muttered, half to himself, and then nodded. Turning towards the simulator himself, he ran it first to see at what angle he should fly out of the eye, and then once more to determine the speed he would need to maintain. After confirming both, he tested the simulation one last time to see how he would need to turn in order to get out of the twister, and then shook his head.

"There is only one wind that will whip us out of here," he told Alexa. "And it's a tricky angle, and it can't be done from the eye. We'll have to force our way out to the very edge of the twister by pure force and flying skill, and then tip the ship just enough to catch that wind. We can't take on any more weight either; the Nadar will have to morph something small and we may have to leave the bullet ship trapped."

He saw Alexa wince, and understood what she was feeling. They were Mayanites, a People willing to build their civilization in the sky just so that the natural environment could be preserved. They weren't like Earthlings who carelessly threw their debris anywhere.

"We can send another mission to collect the bullet ship," Jeremy conceded, and then their eyes met. "Ready?"

"Ready," Alexa echoed and Jeremy slipped into cold concentration, relying on the skills that Keav had taught him, gently, almost lovingly, pushing his ship out into the rainbow tornado.

The strength of the winds slammed into them as soon as the tip was out, and it took all of Jeremy's skill, and all of the craftsmanship of his ship to keep the ship level, just level enough so that its tip just touched the edge of the twister. The winds were too strong for Jeremy to break through to the still air outside, but as that wasn't their objective, Jeremy didn't mind too much. Just hold on, he told himself. This is your part of the job. Alexa will deal with the rest.

Alexa reached out to touch the communicator, and the first crackle of life came through. Careful not to distract Jeremy, who was straining himself just to keep the ship upright and steady, Alexa pinpointed where the signal was coming from, and then went to the back of the ship to arrange for forcefield rope. She would have to go out there, would have to let the winds carry her to the trapping point so that she could use her hands to free the Nadar.

She would also have to make sure that the forcefield rope was long enough so that she could land on the bullet ship with plenty of slack. The last thing she wanted to do was yank Jeremy's ship into the wind trap along with the Nadar.

The ship tipped, ever so slightly and there was a slight scratching noise up where Jeremy was, and Alexa hurried to deal with whatever it was. She found the Brit swearing as he struggled to maintain the ship's balance, and wondered for a brief moment, are humans really so weak, before she shuddered the thought away. When immortals began thinking of their mortal friends as weak, that's when trouble started.

"What is it? I've hit something, I know I have, it feels like I'm scraping along the edge of a forcefield or something."

"That's what it looks like," Alexa responded slowly, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see more clearly. "But… computer, send in streaming holovideo of what we're seeing."

Suddenly, a young Maya was in the ship with them in the distance, along with… was that Animorph Jake? And Animorph Cassie? All three of them were young though, and a glance at their surroundings told Alexa that this… whatever it was, was taking place in the Valley. At the end of the Animorph War. Both of the two girls had recorded the event, but for some reason it was Cassie's version that came to her mind at that moment, and Alexa watched as the holovideo in front of her unfolded exactly as the records said.

_"You're a coward!" _

_The moment the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them. _

_Jake stopped. Turned. His face was a stranger's. "What did you call me?" _

_He'd heard me. Too late to take back the words. "A coward," I repeated, flinching. "Now that it's the final crisis, you're turning chicken on us." _

_I didn't expect his weary laugh. "I'm not chicken," he said. "I'm just trying to give everybody a fighting chance. I'm not going to insist people do what I say when I don't have the slightest idea what's right or wrong. What's smart or stupid. Cassie, it's my fault we're on the run. You can't deny that." _

_I took a deep breath and tried to sound reasonable. Reached for his hand and held it tight. _

_"Maybe you're right, Jake. And maybe you're wrong. Maybe you are a great leader, after all." _

_He tried to pull away but I wouldn't let him go. _

_"No, Jake. Listen to me. If that's the truth, you have to take charge. And if you really are a failure and it really is all your fault, then it's your responsibility to get us out of here. We need a leader, Jake. Either way, it has to be you." _

_It was a cheap shot. Jake's Achilles' heel has always been his sense of responsibility. I could see him weakening. _

_"Marco can be in charge," he said helplessly. Again he pulled his hand away. This time I let him go. "He's smarter than I am. Maya, can. She's a leader – she led her Nadarlets for years. Or Tobias. Or Ax. Or you. Rachel. Anyone. Anyone but me. You know why I was even in charge in the fist place, Cassie? Because once upon a time, a long time ago, Marco said I was." _

_"Jake, that's not the whole truth..." _

_"Well, now my term of office is over," he continued bitterly. "So how about for once you guys figure things out and tell me what to do." _

_Then he turned and walked away. _

_And just kept walking. _

Alexa watched quietly, as she saw Maya rise from her hiding position and follow Jake into the forest. Watched as she grabbed him, forced him to face his reluctance and duty head on. Watched Maya beat Jake bloody with a branch in a desperate attempt to make him feel his responsibility, and then watched as Jake finally agreed to return and he and Maya made their way to the lake.

A horrible grating made Alexa look up, and then she saw three things at once and made the connection at that moment.

First: The edge of Jeremy's ship digging deep into the forcefield screen that he had lightly touched a few minutes earlier.

Second: The rainbow sparks leaping off of the screen due to tension and friction between his ship and the screen.

Third: The holovideo Maya suddenly falling to her knees, as shimmering rainbows danced in the sky above her.

"Jeremy, pull away from the screen," Alexa ordered, and with relief she saw him painfully obey without bothering to ask why. That was a first. When they were safely away, and once more balancing against the wind, she ordered the holovideo turned off and then told Jeremy, "We almost changed one of the visions of the Old Mother's."

"That's great," he remarked, his frustration evident. "Explain it to me after we get out of here, yeah?"

Alexa nodded, but inside the realization of where they actually were, was blossoming. When the Old Mothers told her that their visions were collected at this point, Alexa hadn't realized that meant they were literally collected, and put in screen form all around the twisting winds.

There have to be thirteen of these screens, Alexa thought. One for each of the Old Mothers, one Old Mother for each of the tribes. And some of them are old visions, like this one. The Old Mother who had the vision about Maya must have had it a long time ago, before we even came here, maybe even before any of us were born. But it was received, and then the Old Mother took her name from one of the characters in her vision as is custom, oh, so that's why there is an Old Mother named Maya! And here we thought all along that she had been named Maya after we arrived…

The thoughts still running through her head, Alexa opened a hatch, the forcefield rope tied securely around her middle. Placing herself at just the right angle, she leapt into the fury of the hurricane like a cat in the night, and allowed the winds to buffet her, allowed them to push her to and fro and then there was the bullet ship right in front of them and she landed as softly as a cat might, right on top.

(Nadar, do you hear me?)

(Yes, yes! I am here, I was training, and then I got sucked into this hurricane, thank the Creator, I thought no one would come.)

Alexa repressed a smile. This was certainly a Nadar-in-training, no true Nadar would express this much emotion. (Nadar,) she continued. (I am currently tied to a ship that is waiting for us. However, you must come out of your bullet ship. I will loosen this loop to cover the both of us…)

Her voice trailed off as she took in her surroundings. Closing her eyes, she tested the winds, found the right angle to launch off into, and was about to continue when she noticed that right in front of her was another screen.

And she was in it.

Trembling, she leaned forwards against the wind's awesome power and watched, scarcely breathing, as the screen shifted and turned, not yet solid. This vision hasn't been given yet, she realized, and then when she saw what she was doing within it, she began to pray that that meant the vision was subject to change.

They were crowning her… she was sitting on a throne in the middle of Lake Saranai, its blue-gold waters rippling underneath her. Her girl face was held high, and yet the pain and despair shone from her eyes.

My eyes, Alexa thought numbly. And why are they crowning me? I can't let them. This isn't what I was sent to do. I was sent to serve, not to be served.

But below that, below her mantra, lurking somewhere within her was that knowledge, dark and simple, that without her, these mortals were nothing. That without her, they would tear themselves apart in war and fear and hatred. That without her, this great civilization would come to screeching halt, almost before it started.

I was built to be merciful, Alexa realized, but nowhere did the Arn try and check my pride.

Slowly, she reached out a trembling finger to touch the amorphous screen, and then shuddered as it went through smoothly, almost as if she were putting her hand through slightly solid water. When she was up to her wrist she stopped, and then –

(Alexa, are you alright?)

Jeremy. His thought-voice unable to hide the concern he felt for her. Jeremy, her mind whispered. Help me.

(Alexa, answer me! Are you there?)

(I'm here,) she managed, and then her hand was out of the screen, and she was reaching down to pull the Nadar out, looping the two of them together. Putting her arms around the soldier she told him to hold onto her tightly, and then pushed off from the bullet ship, the winds sending them straight back to Jeremy, straight back to the mortal man who dared to show care for her.

They landed spider-like (after all, Alexa was a Biolex and a Nadar-in-training was still a _Nadar-_in-training) on Jeremy's ship, and when it shuddered and began spinning, Alexa thrust the Nadar into the hatch and followed herself, shouting at Jeremy, "Go, move, now!"

The ship strained as Jeremy fought to find the right angle, as the Nadar hastily morphed into something small at Alexa's orders, and then all three held their breaths as Jeremy coaxed the vehicle that all their lives depended on, up, and out, and to the left, and catch that wind, and turn at that angle and just avoid another screen…

And they were out.

Spinning down towards the ground, Jeremy gave a whoop of celebration and then the Nadar was quickly demorphing and then morphing to bird and thanking the two before taking off into the sky to find his training unit – "Don't get caught in that twister again!" Jeremy shouted to him as he left, Alexa smacking him on the back of his head, "Pay attention to where we're going!" – and they landed, more or less gently, on solid ground.

Alexa tumbled out first, and then lifted herself into the air with her wings, and Jeremy followed, complaining of unfairness until she let herself down with a smile. The two turned to look at each other, flush with success and life and then suddenly, without quite knowing how, they were reaching for one another, their arms out just to hold each other.

Breathing heavily, Jeremy reached up to trace her face in an Andalite's kiss and then he whispered, "I love you."

Ten long years of waiting were eased with those three words, but he knew that wasn't the end. Alexa, he said silently. I know I am going to die. I know I am going to grow old, and leave you behind. But there is a reason I have spent every spare minute I had with you. There is a reason I work with you on all my missions. Why I am foster father to the orphaned children, just as you are foster mother. Alexa, Alexa, I love you, I love you…

And almost as if she could hear him, she whispered, "How could you love _me_? I'm the child of the Creator, believer in His power."

Jeremy's response was quick as he threw the question back at her. "How could you love _me_? I'm the God-hating atheist."

"I don't love you," she responded softly, and at that Jeremy had to smile. Even more gently, he responded, "And I thought children of the Creator weren't supposed to lie."

"How can you be a God-hating atheist?" she said, and their eyes met, a hint of a smile in hers. "I thought atheists didn't believe in God."

They laughed, still locked in embrace, gripping each other with their heads bowed, overcome.

"I'm going to die someday, you know," Jeremy said softly.

"And I'm going to live forever," returned Alexa, even more softly.

I know, Jeremy responded, but he didn't let her go.


	2. Chapter 2

**Till Death Do Us Part**

_Jeremy and Keav are sitting at the edge of the plateau looking across the plains. They're holding hands. They're just relying on each other to keep themselves sane. They need the presence of another one who knows how they feel. I don't think the idea of romance has even occurred to them. Romance… another thing my immortality denies me._

_Tom is sitting inside his tent, awake, lost in his own thoughts. Xelaman is on the Liberty writing something on the computer. Maya is down in the trees, pacing impatiently._

_Tom's going to die._

_Keav's going to die._

_Jeremy's going to die._

_Xelaman's going to die._

_Maya's going to die._

_I'm going to see it all happen._

_And I'm going to live forever._

_- Excerpt from The War Council, Alexa Guardian of the Kyan_

"Are you sure about this?"

Yes, Alexa answered silently. Yes. I've been sure since the moment he came to me and I was crying, crying because all of you were going to die and I was going to live. I've been sure since the moment he reached out to me, held out his hand and I took it and I knew that he would be there for me for at least the few years that he had to live.

But she said none of this, and only nodded, and Maya who was now the Princess bit her lip. It almost made Alexa smile, that simple human gesture on the legendary Princess whose name was known throughout the universe as leader of the most fearsome fighting force in existence.

"But are you sure about the way you're going about this? I mean, no witnesses, only me as your captain…"

"We want it this way," Alexa responded quietly, and at that, Maya nodded. "Okay. Okay, then, let's do it."

Maya strode forward and brushed past Alexa, and for a moment Alexa remembered that angry teenage girl who had stepped off the Blade Ship, fresh from a month of torture at the hands of the Yeerks. Those jerky steps, those quick sharp glances – they were all still a part of the woman who was now Princess of the Nadar, and yet they had a muted quality to them, as if those habits were slowly fading away as the years went by.

"Maya, do you love Xelaman?"

The words came unbidden from her lips, but Alexa didn't blush, and neither did Maya. The two had spent too much time together too close to death so there was little that they could not say to each other.

"Yes," Maya responded, as the two made their way through the empty plains of their Home World, on their way to meet Jeremy. It was early early morning now, and nobody would come out here for at least another hour.

Alexa waited for more, but Maya was silent, and Alexa thought she knew why.

"You think that if I loved Jeremy, truly loved him, I wouldn't put him through this, right?"

"I think," a voice, deepened with age, responded, "That Jeremy loves you."

Alexa turned to see him – no, to look at him, look at the man she was going to marry, look at the man whose widow she would become. Her smile stretched across her face, her breath constricted, and she almost opened her mouth to say no, no, no, I can't do this when Jeremy cut into her thoughts.

"I also think that if I loved you, truly loved you, I wouldn't put you through this," he said gently, and Alexa began breathing again. Yes, it was true, in a way. Jeremy would be the one to die. She would be the one left behind to grieve and to mourn. Forever.

Almost at the same time, they reached out to hold each other's hands, and Alexa thought of the first time they had admitted love to each other. How many years ago had it been? Ten? During that time they had both changed so much, from ideology to personal habits to positions of power. Mayaneria had changed around them as well, and now the plains that Maya led them through were empty of sentient touch, a beautiful wild garden with great hovering cities above them.

"It's been five years since the end of the Final Yeerk War," Maya remarked to them in the silence, and Alexa looked up to see her also taking in all the natural beauty around them. "Five years since Tobias Tem came to live with us."

"How many wars have you _been_ through?" Jeremy broke in. "Genocides too. I mean, you survived the Elemaki Genocide, survived the North Korean concentration camps, and then the wars start: the Animorph War, War with the Vampire Spiders, the One's War, and then that deal with Tellak, and then this Final Yeerk War. That's a lot of fighting."

"And you two have been with me ever since we escaped the Blade Ship Rachel died on," was her gentle return. "Since the War with the Vampire Spiders. You two have been my most trusted commanders, and I'm honored that you want me to be your witness and your captain."

She says that perfectly, Alexa marveled. Just enough to give us credit, and then turns it back into a compliment to our decision to marry. She's truly grown into the Goddess of Peace that she was always meant to be.

Their small procession halted and Alexa looked around her. There was nothing but wild grass and green, for miles around. Just like the endless sky and sea, the land was theirs, only theirs.

"Love is a friendship that has caught fire," Maya said, beginning the wedding vows, and Jeremy turned to face his lovely bride whose face was ashen. He touched her cheek in an Andalaki kiss, and felt her relax, and then stand firm.

"Now, on land, on sea, in the sky, in space, you belong to each other."

Jeremy saw Alexa close her eyes, and she took one deep breath, and when she had opened them, he saw the fire that had kept her going throughout the long battles with the Vampire Spiders, the determination that had allowed her to continue striving for peace, and the spirit that made her ready to face the challenge of waiting and keeping patient.

"As the mountains shade the plains, so I will be your comforter," Alexa said, her voice strong and clear now.

"As the trees grow in harmony with the earth, so I will strive for peace with you," Jeremy gently responded. Only ever peace for you, Alexa.

"As the waves never end, so I will never end our marriage."

"As the horizon is ever distant, so I will keep the end of our union far from us." Never, thought Alexa.

"As the heavens are open, so I will always be open with you."

"As the winds are clear, so I will always strive to be clear and honest." He saw Alexa flash him a smile, and suppressed his own laughter. Everyone knew Jeremy had no problem being clear and honest – with anyone.

"As the stars always shine, so I will always love you," Alexa continued, and his heart leapt.

"As deep space always is, so I will always love you."

And then it was Maya, and Jeremy could barely hear her, barely pay attention to her, for looking at his wife. "Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other. Now there will be no loneliness, for each of you will be companion to the other. Now you are two persons, but with only one life before you. May beauty surround you both in the journey ahead and through all the years. May happiness be your companion and your days together be good and long wherever you may be."

"Forever," Jeremy whispered to her. Alexa looked up at him and responded with a sad smile. "No, just until the day I die."


	3. Chapter 3

**And The Sea Will Give Up Its Dead**

_Alright, so anyway, the Somos are tribal creatures, with one Old Mother to each of the thirteen tribes and there are thirteen fathers to each tribe. Nomadic people, don't seem to do much other than eat and walk around. They're very friendly with each other, apparently, and until the Spiders came the only deaths were from accidents which were rare because the Somos have been living on this planet forever and so were never surprised._

_So, in a tribe there is an Old Mother, the fathers, the youths and the children. But the craziest part of it all is this: each father has a youth and a child, their genetic path, and each one of these trios share one collective consciousness, one collective mind. _

_You know how when we morph, the technology pulls matter from Z-space and shapes it according to the DNA codes acquired by the morpher? Apparently the Somos use this to reproduce, only they don't have to use technology, it's innate. They have zero-space matter transfer ability (we're still not sure how) and they learned to store their memories and spare thoughts in Zero-space._

_However, this zero-space link is damaging to the bodies of the Somos, which is why they have to change bodies every so often. They have a ceremony and the Old Mother mates with each father individually, and then everyone (including the Old Mother, the youths, the children, _everyone)_morphs to the next stage. The fathers all revert back to children; the children morph to youths; the youths to fathers… you get the picture. Even the Old Mother goes back to being a child, the only female child in the whole tribe._

_By the way, we're still not quite sure what it is that the Old Mother does with the fathers that cause them to change their bodies, but we're just calling it mating since that's the closest Earthling equivalent. The Old Mother was pretty clear that that information was private information and that we were "the lowest of creatures to even think about thinking about trying to find out."_

_So anyway, essentially, the Somos are collective Zero-space-based consciousnesses with a series of bodies created in the "real world." The Z-space memory packets are tied into the particular mind of the Somo they belong to, and it's always the mind of a father or Old Mother. If the father dies, the line is wiped out because the youth and child can't morph to the next stage and so eventually their continual link to zero-space kills them and then the memory packets/consciousness remain in Z-space until the flooding._

_We don't know what this flooding is, and the Old Mother couldn't describe it. Flooding is actually the only word that the translation chip would agree to as a semi-appropriate translation, apparently there is some ancient Somolonanian word that has been used for generations and generations and it means something very specific that is related to flooding. The Old Mother looked very happy while mentioning the flooding, all this roaring as she talked about it, and switched to another language for it as well. It sounded kind of priestly, the chip caught, "and the sea will give up its dead" but other than that we really don't have any idea what she's talking about. Hopefully this little misunderstanding won't kill us all._

_It's kind of a harsh deal for these Somos, but apparently it's worked great for them all this time. Almost nobody died because they lived in perfect harmony with the planet (the reason why it was so untouched) because they don't ever overpopulate, they don't ever use up too many resources. It's like a perfect equilibrium. In fact, it's kind of funny that there aren't less of them; I mean, if one accident can wipe out an entire father's line…and if an Old Mother gets killed, the _entire _tribe is gone because they can't mate and keep going without the Old Mother._

_- Excerpt from Nadar Chronicles Part III: Somolonania, Aristh Tom_

Grestedna lifted up both of her heads from the ground and stood still, her heart loudly beating. One of the humans who were near her glanced at her, before asking, "Old Mother, what's wrong?"

What was wrong? Nothing was wrong, the Somolonanian wanted to say, her excitement rising. Couldn't this human feel the need to answer the Call?

Instead of answering, she moved all four legs, slowly at first and then quickly until she was almost galloping on her thick elephantine legs across the plains towards the lake that was at the center of the continent they lived on. Lake Saranai, the Mayanites had named it. The Mayanites had named everything and yet they knew nothing about how the sky and the sea and the land that they had named were connected.

Grestedna could hardly contain herself for joy at the pull of the Call, and ignoring everything, rushing past the humans and Ssintha and Andalaki, she pushed her way to the edge of the lake.

She was one of the first Old Mothers to arrive, and so she waited in silent anticipation as the other Old Mothers slowly gathered around the lake's shore. There was Siglemoth, and then Kaieve, and Maya too, and then finally all ten surviving Old Mothers were all in a circle around the lake.

Siglemoth was the head Old Mother now that Yomanti was gone (but not for long, thought Grestedna) and so she was the one who lifted her head and began the flooding chant in the ancient language. Grestedna opened her speaking mouth and eagerly joined in, letting the Call consume her.

"Come," she cried, with the others, ten Old Mothers aching to be thirteen once more. "Come waves and water, sea and ocean. Come and cleanse us. Come and give us new life. Come and give us our dead."

--

It had been a week since Alexa had watched Jeremy's flesh and bone burn away to cremated ash. A week since she had scattered it on the wind from the highest point of Somolonania. A week since she had erected his namemarker in the City of the Dead.

Everyone had mourned, because everyone had known Jeremy. Who wouldn't have recognized him? He had rescued the Princess from the Blade Ship right after the Animorph War. He had been a part of the Princess' original War Council. He had been the Nadarmy's best sharpshooter since the War with the Vampire Spiders. He had led his aniarmies to victory, over and over again.

But no one, Alexa thought fiercely, no one knew him the way I knew him. I was his wife for the last fifty years and no one was his the way I was.

There had been condolences given, of course. Offers to talk, if she wanted to take up on them. But since they had told no one of their marriage, there was no one who could really understand what it had been like for Alexa, forever young, to watch as her husband aged, as he turned from a forty-year-old man to ninety-year-old bedridden veteran, clinging to life just so as not to bring grief to his immortal bride.

I knew this would happen, she told herself, over and over again. I asked for this.

And yet her heart had yet to stop aching.

Shaking her head, trying to distract herself, it wasn't until then that Alexa looked up at the sound of chanting. That wasn't any Earthling tongue, all of which she recognized, and it certainly wasn't Mayanese, the quaint but commonly used language of the Kyan civilians who, unlike the Nadar warriors, weren't all equipped with thought-speech emitters.

Following the sound, she slipped off of Rachelarem with her white wings down to the ground, pulling short just before she hit bottom. Looking around she noticed that all of the Old Mothers were gathered around Lake Saranai, and that the fathers, and the youths, and the children were all coming from all over the continent to stand behind the Old Mothers and add their voices to the chanting.

What in Somo was going on? she wondered briefly, for a moment genuinely free of her thoughts. Stepping closer, she cocked her head, and allowed her translating chip to take in a few minutes of the chanting. They aren't speaking in the language they normally use, that's for sure, and this speech… it's almost priestly. I can't believe they aren't insulting themselves or each other, or _us_, the way they have ever since we met them.

And then, a single thought rang through her head: _Except for that one time Yomanti spoke of the sea._

"Come, waters of the deep. Come, rise and cover us. Come, and fill the land as the oceans are filled."

The chanting was steady and now that Alexa's translating chip was picking up most of it, if not all, a slow, dull panic began working her way through her body. A quick glance at the Old Mothers showed that they would not be interrupted. They probably wouldn't pay any attention to me even if I threw a bomb at them, she thought, and so she turned backwards and sprung up into the air.

It was then that she realized that the sea was already higher than it should be.

Flying faster and faster in the air and then there was Jeremy's ship, waiting for her. Jeremy had left it there, a few weeks ago, and told her where it was. "Only you'll be able to get it," he had whispered with a smile. "Only you can fly to where it is."

Opening the hatch, Alexa climbed in, for a moment hoping to see him at the control panel, but the agonizing emptiness was the only thing there to greet her. Gritting her teeth, she turned and grabbed the communicator.

"Maya. Maya, this is an emergency. Something big is going on. Maya, come in, come in."

"What is it?"

Finally. Alexa let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Maya, the Somolonanians are gathering by Lake Saranai and chanting about the flooding. The flooding, do you remember, remember when Tom was talking to Yomanti and she mentioned flooding and that phrase, the sea will give up its dead, Maya, I think - "

Alexa paused for a moment, and then said more slowly, "We need to check the water levels."

There was silence on the other end, and then she heard the Princess' voice, "Done. I've sent people to check."

"I don't think we have that much time," Alexa responded. How much time did they actually have? She reached up to wipe her forehead, and then stared in surprise at the sweat on her hand. She wasn't _that _nervous, was she?

"What do you mean?" Maya's voice was sharp on the other end, and Alexa almost smiled. Why… Maya had sounded young again in that one question, as if she weren't over eighty years old and a great-grandmother.

Alexa looked up, out of the window of the ship and said, "Because I think the seas are coming now."

"Alexa," and the Biolex could hear real desperation in the other woman's voice. "Alexa, I can't let my People die. Not after all this."

Alexa found herself nodding, and then she spoke rapidly in the communicator. "We'll put up the shields. The shields, remember, the shields? We put them there in case the Vampire Spiders ever got out of the southern continent. Maya, Princess Maya, you are the only with the authority to order the shields to go up, tell them to put them up _now._"

Again, silence, and then Maya's voice again. "Done."

"All the cities?"

"All of them."

"All the villages?"

"Every single one."

"Already?"

"They were designed to go up at a moment's notice."

"Is there anything uncovered?"

"Everything natural is going to be flooded, but apparently according to fossil records that are being examined right now, these floods have happened before and so we can assume that they are a part of this planet's natural ecosystem."

"And these fossil records weren't checked until _now_?" Alexa hissed, and then she took a deep breath, surprised at the extent of her own anger.

"Peace, Alexa, Guardian of the Kyan," Maya was responding. "We knew great floods had covered Somolonania in the past, but we had no way of knowing that they would happen again. I guess… I guess we forgot that we still are only visitors to this world."

Maya's use of Alexa's title had steadied the Biolex, and so she replied with an even voice, "Thank you, Maya. I am sorry for losing my temper. It's not like me. I… you don't answer to me, I know that. I…"

"You saved all of our lives," was the Princess' soft response. "Your quick action saved our civilization, Alexa. Jeremy would have been proud of you."

At the sound of his name, Alexa sagged, and it took all her resolve to whisper, "You're welcome." Looking around the empty ship, she pulled from deep within the strength to stand up and reply, "Now, I am Guardian of the Kyan, and it's my duty to go rescue those who were caught outside the cities and villages."

"The safety bracelets that everyone is required to wear outside of the cities will have completely enclosed them in impermeable forcefield suits," Maya said. "And will provide them with enough oxygen for at least the next few hours while they wait for you. I have the report of those who are still outside and it's… thirteen, altogether."

"Only thirteen?" Alexa asked, her eyebrows raised.

"The others were all warned in time – the sea still hasn't completely covered the land, but these thirteen people are too far from the cities to make it, you will have to go fetch them."

I haven't been on a rescue mission without Jeremy for the last fifty years, Alexa wanted to respond, but instead she thanked Maya, downloaded the DNA patterns of the thirteen into the ship's computer and then opened the hatch, falling only a short second before her white wings caught her and carried her up, higher even than the ship.

It was from that point that Alexa saw the blue gold waters of the Somolonanian sea rushing in, devouring up every point of the land. She could see the cities and villages below her, their shields firmly set although some bobbed when the onrushing ocean hit them.

I need to go get the people who are stuck out there, Alexa reminded herself, but she couldn't tear herself away from the sight of the ocean rising above the earth, rushing past its boundaries and covering the planet completely.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, Alexa could see nothing but water.

--

It was when Alexa rescued the third Mayanite, an Earthling immigrant, that she thought she was going to go crazy.

"Thank the Creator you've found me," the Earthling woman kept saying over and over again, after Alexa had dived down with Jeremy's ship to find her, and pulled her out. Alexa just nodded and smiled, before taking another dive down into the waters to find the nearest city so she could drop the woman in it. A quick scan and Alexa was almost surprised to discover that Rachelarem, their capital city, was closest to them.

"Where do you live?" she asked the woman, hoping the answer was Rachelarem, and when the woman confirmed Alexa's hope, Alexa contacted the Nadar who made the bubble open to pre-programmed DNA. Holding onto the woman tightly, Alexa pulled her out of the safety of Jeremy's ship. They pushed their way through the new sea, entering neatly into Rachelarem from above, Alexa's wings catching them both and slowing their fall down to the ground.

The scent of panic and terror that rose up in streams from the city made Alexa almost drop the Earthling woman, and it was with trembling hands that the Biolex set her down. Looking around, she saw fear in tight, clump knots of people whispering, and then raising their voices, and then screaming as they all asked in one voice, _are we going to die? Are we going to die?_

Where was Maya? Alexa thought. If they saw her, they would calm down. In the minds of the People, if the Princess is there, then everything is will be right again.

And then the thought hit her. Maybe Maya isn't here because she knows that her presence will calm everyone, she knows that everyone depends on her simple existence just to keep going, and she knows that she is going to die soon and that her People _can't _keep leaning on her, that they have to learn how to grow and deal with troubles without her.

But me… they can depend on me forever.

She lifted herself into the air not for the last time and called out as loudly as she could, into an amplifier that she fashioned from forcefield, "Mayanites!"

Her voice was picked up and echoed by a thousand voices and then the thousand voices stilled.

"You will not die," she pronounced slowly, carefully, looking into each unrecognized face. They all knew her, of course – who didn't? – but how was it that she didn't know any of them?

"You will not die," Alexa repeated. "These floods are a recurring incident in the history of this planet. We did not expect them to happen now, but we were prepared for emergencies and I tell you the truth, there has not been one death yet from these floods. I myself am currently on a mission to rescue the remaining ten Kyan who were caught outside the city boundaries when the waters came in." _Please, please, I have to know at least one person here._

The silence continued, and so Alexa continued to fill it, her eyes scanning for someone, some face that she would know. "Stay calm, and continue to live your lives as you always have." _No, no, no, I don't know these people, I don't know their faces and yet I have to care for them, I don't know anyone, everyone I know is dead or dying…_

"The waters will recede. And then you will walk out on the land as you always have, and these floods will seem like distant dream."

_Jeremy_, her heart cried out. Why did you leave me?

The clapping started, and then the stamping, and then the hatoing and then the fire spurts and every form of praise and honor and respect as Alexa bowed gracefully from the air before escaping from them all, back into the water, back to rescuing the remaining ten Kyan, back to Jeremy's ship.

--

Her wings were spread out wider than ever before, and she lay on them, floating on the top of those vast waters. Jeremy's ship was hovering over her, just within arm's reach, should she have chosen to open her eyes and lift up her hand.

I've rescued the thirteen Kyan, she thought numbly. I've reported to the Princess, who was younger than I am now when we first met. I visited Nora, who was three when I first started to care for her, and who is over seventy now and has children who are older than me. Every village is calm, every city is peaceful. I have done my duty.

Done my duty.

Done it, and now, I want to die.

Is it too much to ask for, really? Too much to ask just for the _ability _to die? Oh, Creator, I want to grow old, I want to grow frail and weak like the mortals around me. I want to live a short burning life and then be done with it, not stoke this endless slow fire that will never go out.

Would that I had a life like Maya's, full of blood and pain, if only in the end I could die.

Would that I had a life like my Jeremy's, losing all his loved ones and being known for his ability to kill, if only in the end I could die.

Would that I had a life like Tobias', abused and mocked and tortured by his uncle, if only in the end I could die.

And then, someone tugged at her, some quiet voice spoke to her and whispered, _dive down_ _deep, come down, to the very bottom of this ocean_ and Alexa, without quite realizing how, suddenly found herself answering the Call.

Deeper in the water and although it grew darker as she swam away from the sun, her eyesight adapted so she could see, and her metabolism slowed so she would need less oxygen, and then she was there, standing in what had been Lake Saranai, but what was now just another dip in the ocean floor.

The Old Mothers, and the fathers, and the youths and the children were all still there, some of them feeding on the wet wet grass, but most of them tending large plants that lay at the bottom of that dip in the ocean floor, a bright silver sphere resting among them.

Alexa reached out to touch one of the plants, and then pulled her hand away when she felt warmth emanating from the pod, asking the nearest Old Mother in thought-speech – what were the Old Mothers doing?

The Old Mother opened her mouth, and although no sound came out Alexa heard clearly the Old Mother's reproach. You, she said, you who also hear the Call, how can you ask us what we do? The Call brings us here, to wait for the sea to give up its dead and then we tend our dead, waiting for them to come to new life. All of our dead, every single one that has been lost to us, will be returned and they will spring forth as they always were when the waters return to their boundaries.

Alexa turned once more to the pod and reached out a tentative hand and asked, without words, Who is this one?

Yomanti, came the response, and then Alexa realized, with a sudden quickness, this is the key. This is how the Somolonanians managed to maintain their populations. Because, every so often, these floods would come. They would come, and cover the planet, and destroy any invaders, and then hide the Somolonanians from view as they grew again from these pods, as they were resurrected into new life.

You are immortals, too, then.

Yes.

Your memories live forever.

Yes.

Just like mine.

Yes.

Then… I am not alone.

Yes.

Then I am a Somolonanian. Then… you are my People. We are immortals together who are doomed to live in this life forever, coming in to help extend mortal's lives… but always together. You are my People who will be with me all my life.

Yes, yes, yes. For the waters will recede. And then the thirteen tribes of Somolonania, with thirteen of each age, Mother and fathers, youths, and then children, will be together again, united. And Yomanti, the Old Mother who sacrificed not only herself but her entire tribe for the good of all Somolonanians, will walk again.

Yes, Alexa thought fiercely, and I - I will walk with her.

And for the first time since Jeremy died, Alexa let her tears go to mingle with the Somolonanian oceans. My tribute to you, my father, my brother, my husband, my son. Go, fly across the Sea of Stars. Creator's blessing and - I love you.

--

_Alexa, my dearest beloved, my only angel,_

_My ship's name is the Immortal._

_Yours forever,_

_Jeremy_

**Author's Note**

And so ends one chapter of the lives of the Mayanites, with Jeremy's death and the slow phase out of all the old leaders. Except for, that is, Alexa. I guess she'll be there forever, but at least she has people with whom she can endure that forever.

Coming up next is my last fic ever for fanfiction, and it's titled, pretty appropriately, The End.


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